BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
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By Brian Bailey |
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Happy turn of events for hoops
By Brian Bailey
©2007 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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There were several surprises
in East Carolina’s win over Texas-El Paso on Saturday night.
The Pirates had one of their
best nights of the year on offense. Courtney Captain warmed up for his late
heroics with a 24-point first half.
The Pirate crowd was shocking.
With rumors of students wearing bags, and e-mails and letters to the editor
flying around, the Pirate Nation showed up in huge numbers to cheer on this
Pirate team for a final time this season.
It wasn’t just the numbers.
The crowd was into the game from the very start. East Carolina built a big
lead in the game, only to see UTEP rally.
Riding a 13-game losing
streak, you kind of had the feeling that this team was destined to hit 14 on
this night. But in the final flurry, the Pirates executed to perfection in
getting Courtney Captain a good look at a long three point shot.
Captain drained what turned
out to be the game-winner. But it certainly wasn’t over. UTEP ended up with
one final shot with just over a second to play.
This officiating crew spent
most of the night calling every ticky-tacky foul they could find. Somehow,
though, they missed the Pirate that was thrown to the floor on the final
play. Luckily, the perfect script included a Miner miss, and the Pirates had
broken the losing streak.
Someone had joked that the
fans might just storm the court with a Pirate win. I thought that would be a
bad idea. However, the way the game ended, I think it was an outstanding
gesture of respect for this team, especially the hero of the night playing
in his last game at Williams Arena.
Courtney Captain gave us a
night that he, and most of us, will never forget!
Ingram hangs up sneakers
Jeremy Ingram also played his
last home game on Saturday night.
Ingram has one more year of
eligibility, but his ailing knee just won't allow him to continue. Ingram
has had four knee surgeries over the last four years. This year’s treatments
included an injection of chicken cartilage to try and support the knee.
Ingram made the announcement
at the post game news conference after the win over UTEP.
“I just want to personally
thank everyone,” Ingram said. “I just felt love from the first time I set
foot in the coliseum and I’m still feeling love now. I just want to thank
everybody that welcomed me here. I’m going to always be a Pirate.”
Ingram will go down as one of
my all-time favorite players to cover. He had a genuine love for people. He
is an outstanding young man and he will do great in his chosen field.
Pirate baseball sweeps
East Carolina went 3-0 in this
weekend’s ECU Invitational. The Pirates
opened with a 5-1 win over Big East favorite St.
John’s. It was really nice to see T.J. Hose throw as well as
he did.
The best game of the weekend
was the
come from behind win over Washington.
Husky starter Nick Haughian was a hard throwing lefty who really had the
Pirates number for seven innings. But the Pirates rallied with a five-run
eighth and then Shane Mathews slammed the door with the save. East Carolina
won the game 6-3.
Sunday’s
win over a previously unbeaten Duke team
was impressive because the Pirates went to work early offensively. The
Pirates beat Duke 11-4.
Next weekend the competition
intensifies a bit, with Pepperdine, N.C. State and Western Carolina due in
town for the 4th annual Keith LeClair Classic.
Lady Pirates earn No. 3 seed
East Carolina’s Lady Pirates
won their seventh straight game on Saturday,
beating Central Florida in Orlando
76-57.
Sharon Baldwin-Tener may end
up as the Conference USA Coach of the Year. Her Lady Pirates earned a bye in
the first round of the C-USA Tournament and will play the winner of the
Southern Methodist-UCF on Friday night in Tulsa, OK.
ECU is the hottest team coming
into the tournament. Three more wins and East Carolina’s women would head to
the NCAA Tournament.
Eastern Regionals
East Carolina University and
J.H. Rose High School are hosting the NCHSAA Eastern Regionals this week.
This week’s winners head to
the state championship games next week.
It’s always a huge week of
hoops on campus, and this year shouldn’t be any different.
Pitt County has Ayden-Grifton
on the boy’s side, and South Central for the girls.
Kinston comes to Greenville as the number one team in the state in 3A. The
Vikings have several players that are being recruited.
It’s always a good time, so
get out to ECU or Rose for some great basketball this week.
BB
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04/21/2008 07:08:09 PM |